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Published June 20, 2009 12:02 pm - January through September, Glasgow native Lillian Matthews is someone else. ‘Buffalo Lil’ stampedes in Roller Derby By JON WEBB Glasgow Daily Times January through September, Glasgow native Lillian Matthews is someone else.
After strapping on a pair of roller skates and donning her trademark black cowboy hat, Matthews becomes “Buffalo Lil”: an athlete tough enough to stand beside shiver-inducing names such as Jailbreak Jenny, Carrie A. Glock and Anna Nicole Smite. Matthews is one year into her stint as a member of the Derby City Roller Girls (DCRG), a Roller Derby team based out of Louisville. Matthews joined DCRG a year ago, and spent months working her way up through team ranks. Upon joining the team, she endured an eight-week “boot camp” and survived six weeks of practice as “fresh meat” before becoming a full-time member of the team. “We have our team set-up that way to make sure girls are absolutely trained in playing and committed to being on the team,” Matthews said. According to DCRG’s official brochure, Roller Derby consists of ten players, five from each team, skating around a circular track and playing offense and defense simultaneously. For each team, there is a jammer who fights to pass the opposing team’s skaters to score points. There is a pivot who “sets the pace for the pack of skaters” and three blockers who do their best to keep the opposing jammer from getting past. Matthews said her greatest Roller Derby moment came in a “bout” in Lexington, when she sliced through the pack to grab the role of lead jammer, the most powerful position on the track. “Being the lead jammer means that I beat out (the other team’s) jammer to the front of the pack, and I was eligible to come back through the pack and score points,” Matthews said. “Getting to be a jammer is a huge responsibility. They are some of the fastest and most in-shape girls on the team. I am trying to work my way up to jamming more, so anytime I get the chance to and get to be the lead is a pretty big deal to me.” Roller Derby is also a pretty big deal to DCRG’s fans. DCRG’s Founder and President Jenni “Bad Penny” Alrich started the team, Kentucky’s first, in 2007 after meeting another team in Austin, Texas, and has since watched her creation cull a dedicated fan base. Not surprisingly, that base includes Matthews’ husband and Barren County High School graduate Brian Matthews, and Lilian Matthews’ mother Terri “Ma Buffalo” Bacon. “Our fan base is very diverse,” Brian Matthews said. “(Roller Derby) is a family-friendly event so you see everything from small children to senior citizens.” Once inside, fans can either sit in the bleachers or brave “suicide seats” situated right next to the track. 
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